Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Price Down 5.5% - Should You Sell?

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) traded down 5.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $54.36 and last traded at $55.57. 2,798,682 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 25% from the average session volume of 2,232,424 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Noble Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $52.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.08.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a current ratio of 2.84. The company's 50-day moving average price is $43.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.17 billion, a PE ratio of 459.80 and a beta of 1.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $302.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.25 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 3.85%. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions's quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.37, for a total transaction of $515,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 384,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,214,990.04. This trade represents a 3.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,567 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $247,904.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 318,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,033,416.50. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 151,572 shares of company stock worth $5,586,226 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 15,229 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 2,250 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 18,772 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $495,000 after buying an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 19,171 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $506,000 after buying an additional 1,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 10,521 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 916 shares during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of mission critical products, services and solutions for United States national security priorities. It operates through the Kratos Government Solutions (KGS) and Unmanned Systems (US) segments. The KGS segment consists of an aggregation of KGS operating segments, including microwave electronic products, space, satellite and cyber, training solutions.